Hope
by mind of mimsy
Summary: hope - to cherish a desire with anticipation; to want something to happen or be true. Bucky Barnes was on the road to recovery, but could only get so far without the help of someone outside the Avengers' circle. Enter Olivia Carson, the enhanced with the ability to heal.


**A/N - Trigger Warning - suicide mentioned in passing.**

 **This may be a multi-chaptered fic, I haven't decided yet, but I've had the idea of Olivia in my head for a little while and I thought why not try a Bucky/OC fanfic? I hope you enjoy!**

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Bucky sat at the table his hands folded on his lap and his eyes forward. To say that he was nervous would be an understatement. He was terrified. He didn't know what kind of "appointment" this would turn out to be. He could only think of the years he'd spent in Hydra's clutches, the tests they'd performed on him, the things they'd made him do.

It was Hell sitting there, waiting.

But then the door opened and Tony Stark walked through, his face one of stone. "Alright, Frosty, this is what's going to happen -"

Steve, his best friend and recently his protector, stepped away from the wall he was leaning on, huffing a sigh. "C'mon, Tony. Have a little decency, would you?"

Tony made a sound in the back of his throat, but didn't acknowledge Steve's request. "There's a girl right outside this door, she's agreed to try to help you. She's on our side, alright? She isn't here to do whatever it is that Hydra did. She's a civilian. She's _innocent_."

Bucky swallowed thickly. Tony's words dripped poison. He hated him - Hell, he had every right to. The billionaire didn't want this to work Bucky realized, looking down at the bracelet on Tony's wrist. It was the very one that called his suit in case of an emergency. Did he want to finish what they'd started back in Siberia?

"I won't hurt her," Bucky whispered, his voice broken. "I swear, I won't hurt her."

He felt a hand on his shoulder, a steady, firm grip. Steve. "We know you won't, Buck. There's not a doubt in my mind."

Bucky gave a small nod to Tony who then turned and opened the door.

A woman, a little younger than himself, walked in with a small, tight lipped smile. Brown hair fell to her shoulders in tendrils, her wide eyes searching the room for anything harmful before she allowed herself to enter it fully. She watched as the three men looked anywhere but at the other and gulped when she realized the tension in the room. She was anxious, it was obvious by the way she kept raising her hand to scratch at her arm. Bucky glanced at the place she'd move to touch before and noticed it was an angry red - that was her nervous habit, it seemed.

"Hi," Steve greeted from beside him, stepping forward to offer her his hand. "I'm Steve Rogers, this is Bucky Barnes. Thanks so much for offering your help."

"Olivia," she said back, "nice to meet you."

Tony walked toward them, his arms crossed over his chest. "Okay, that's enough pleasantries. Let's see what you can do, Miss Carson."

Olivia nodded and walked slowly to the table where Bucky was seated. She heard the door shut and glanced behind her to see that Tony and Steve had both left the room. She turned back to the man in front of her and gave him another small smile. "Okay, Bucky, I'm not sure what you know about me, but I'm what people like to call an "enhanced"."

Bucky stared at the tabletop between them. "Enhanced?"

"Yes. I am still a human and, while I'm nothing extraordinary like you and Steve, I do have an ability that not a lot of other people have. I can heal others." She wasn't condescending in her explanation, truly. She was only trying not to spook him. He wagered she knew the things he had been capable of when the Winter Solider took over.

"I'm not hurt," he said quietly. His eyes finally met her own and he watched as sympathy flashed over her face. Her eyes were trained on his face and she gave a soft, almost non-existent nod.

"Not physically," she said quietly. "And honestly, I've never tried to heal someone's mind before. I don't know exactly how this is going to work, but I'm going to try my damnedest to help you, okay?"

"You don't even know me." Bucky blinked and his heart pounded in his chest. He wiped his hands on the jeans he wore and then sat them on the table, folded. "Why are you doing this? What do you have to gain?"

"I don't have anything to gain. I just. I- I had a brother," she told him quietly. "Andrew. He was my best friend."

Bucky watched her intently. "Was?"

Olivia nodded, her eyes a little more dull than they were a moment before. "Yes, was. He died a few months back. He was a soldier, he done a few tours in Afghanistan and when he came back he wasn't the same guy I knew all those years. He was a little more withdrawn. He didn't talk to me like he had before, and he was always just so... angry."

"What happened to your brother?" Bucky asked quietly. "How did he die?"

Olivia glanced at him, her bottom lip drawn into her mouth for a moment, before she let it go and answered. "He died by suicide."

Bucky sat a little straighter in his seat. "I." He gulped. "I'm sorry for your loss."

She gave him a single nod. "That's why I want to help you. You are a soldier, in this life and you were one in your past. I've read files upon files, but nothing prepared me for the man sitting with me now. You aren't James Barnes any more than you are the Winter Soldier, are you?"

Bucky remained stock still. It seemed as if he weren't even breathing.

"I want to help you, Bucky." Olivia reached slowly toward his hands, waiting to see if he'd recoil from her, and when he didn't she let her fingers brush softly over his flesh hand. "I don't want what happened to Andrew to happen to anyone else."

Bucky stared at her hand, shocked that she'd reached out to him. The Winter Solider. The killer.

"But I can only help you if you're willing to accept it. I'm no magician. I can't make you feel something you don't truly want to feel."

Bucky blinked, the backs of his eyes burning. He watched as her thumb rubbed over his knuckles gently, so tender it almost hurt. He raised his attention back to her face, and gave a solitary nod. "I want you to help me. Please?"

"Okay," she smiled, "I'll go talk to Tony and Steve and see what needs to be arraigned. You're going to be okay, Bucky. I have a feeling you're stronger than anyone is giving you credit for." She gave his hand a small pat and then raised out of her chair. "I'll see you in a bit, okay?"

Bucky watched her back retreat, and something came over him that he hadn't felt in a long time.

 **Hope.**


End file.
